Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads album)

Updated on Oct 21, 2023

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Released June 1, 1983 Artist Talking Heads Label Sire Records		Producer Talking Heads Release date 1 June 1983

Recorded July 1982–February 1983 Studio Blank Tape Studios in NYC; additional recording & mixing at Compass Point Studios in Nassau Sigma Sound Studios in Manhattan Length 40:50 LP 47:14 Cassette/CD Speaking in Tongues (1983) Stop Making Sense (1984) Genres New wave, Funk, Art rock, Electropop Awards Grammy Award for Best Recording Package Similar Talking Heads albums, Funk albums

Talking heads speaking in tongues 1983 full album hq

Speaking in Tongues is the fifth studio album by the band Talking Heads, released in 1983. Following the band's split with producer Brian Eno and a short hiatus which allowed the individual members to pursue side projects, recording began in 1982. It became the band's commercial breakthrough and produced the band's first (and only) American Top 10 hit, "Burning Down the House", which was accompanied by a promotional video.

The album's tour was documented in Jonathan Demme's film Stop Making Sense, which generated a live album of the same name. (The concert film and live album's title comes from the repeated phrase "Stop making sense!" during the song "Girlfriend Is Better".) In addition, the album crossed over to the dance charts where it peaked at number two for six weeks. It is also the group's highest-charting album on the American Billboard 200.

Cover art

David Byrne designed the cover for the general release of the album. Artist Robert Rauschenberg won a Grammy Award for his work on the limited-edition LP version. This album featured a clear vinyl disc in clear plastic packaging along with three clear plastic discs printed with similar collages in three different colors.

Release

Original cassette and later CD copies of the album have "extended versions" of "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "Moon Rocks". The album was re-released in February 2006 as a remastered DualDisc. It contains the extended versions of the songs found on the original cassette, and includes two additional tracks ("Two Note Swivel" and an alternate mix of "Burning Down the House"). The DVD-A side includes both stereo and 5.1 surround high resolution (96 kHz/24bit) mixes, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 version of the album, a new alternate version of "Burning Down the House" with the emphasis on experimenting with the possibilities of surround sound, and videos for "Burning Down the House" and "This Must Be the Place" (videos are two-channel Dolby Digital only). In Europe it was released as a CD+DVDA two-disc set rather than a single DualDisc. The reissue was produced by Andy Zax with Talking Heads.

Byrne has said, as a partial explanation of the album's title, "I originally sang nonsense, and uh, made words to fit that. That worked out all right."

Critical reception

Rolling Stone's David Fricke lauded the album's crossover nature, calling it "the album that finally obliterates the thin line separating arty white pop music and deep black funk." He elaborated that the songs are all true art rock, with the complexity and sophistication of the genre, yet avoid art rock's characteristic pretensions with a laid-back attitude and compelling dance rhythms, making it an ideal party album.

In 1989 the album was ranked number 54 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 best albums of the 1980s". In 2012 Slant Magazine listed the album at number 89 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".

Track listing

All lyrics written by David Byrne, all music composed by Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth.

Side one

"Burning Down the House" – 4:01
"Making Flippy Floppy" – 4:34
"Girlfriend Is Better" – 4:22
"Slippery People" – 3:31
"I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" – 4:07

Side two

"Swamp" – 5:12
"Moon Rocks" – 5:03
"Pull Up the Roots" – 5:08
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:53

Cassette/CD versions

"Burning Down the House" – 4:01
"Making Flippy Floppy" (extended version) – 5:54
"Girlfriend Is Better" (extended version) – 5:44
"Slippery People" (extended version) – 5:05
"I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" (extended version) – 5:15
"Swamp" – 5:12
"Moon Rocks" (extended version) – 5:44
"Pull Up the Roots" – 5:08
"This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" – 4:53

2006 DualDisc reissue bonus tracks

"Two Note Swivel" (unfinished outtake) – 5:51
"Burning Down the House" (alternate version) – 5:09

Talking Heads

David Byrne – vocals, keyboards, guitars, synthesizer, percussion

Chris Frantz – drums, backing vocals, synthesizer

Jerry Harrison – keyboards, synthesizer, guitars, backing vocals

Tina Weymouth – bass guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer, guitar

Additional musicians

Wally Badarou – synthesizer on "Burning Down The House", "Swamp" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

Raphael DeJesus – percussion on "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "Pull Up the Roots"

Nona Hendryx – backing vocals on "Slippery People"

Richard Landry – saxophone on "Slippery People"

Dolette McDonald – backing vocals on "Slippery People"

Steve Scales – percussion on "Burning Down The House" and "Moon Rocks"

L. Shankar – double violin on "Making Flippy Floppy"

David Van Tieghem – percussion on "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity" and "This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)"

Alex Weir – guitar on "Making Flippy Floppy", "Swamp", "Moon Rocks" and "Pull Up the Roots"

Bernie Worrell – synthesizer on "Girlfriend is Better"

Recording personnel

John Convertino – assistant engineer

Franklin Gibson – assistant overdubbing engineers, mixing

Ted Jensen – mastering

Butch Jones – recording engineer

Jay Mark – assistant overdubbing engineers, mixing

Alex Sadkin – overdubbing engineer, mixing

Brian Kehew – 2006 Dual Disc bonus mixes

Charts

Album

Singles

Songs

1Burning Down the House4:02
2Making Flippy Floppy5:54
3Girlfriend Is Better5:43

References

Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads album) Wikipedia

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